My family always makes birthdays special, but this year was my sister, Layne’s, golden birthday, (19 on July 19th) so naturally we had to make it extra special! It just so happened that Matt Nathanson and Gavin DeGraw were playing at the Crystal Grand in the Dells on her birthday! Naturally we surprised her with tickets to see them, and it was a night to remember! Both artists were fantastic, and sounded great live! Gavin DeGraw started off the show with a crazy amount of energy, which got everyone pumped up. Matt Nathanson was not only an excellent singer, but he was also hilarious, telling jokes about his tour and getting the audience involved. Plus, we were only five rows back, so we had a great view of the whole show! (Sorry to the people who stood behind the tall Kortbein girls…) After the concert, there was a meet and greet with Matt Nathanson. As we reached the front of the line there were only a few minutes left of Layne’s birthday, so we rushed in to make sure we had our picture taken on her actual birthday!  As we were waiting in line to get our picture taken with him, both Layne and her boyfriend realized their phones had died. Thankfully, since I’m #PoweredByBlackBerry, I had 21% remaining on my Q10! (Of course this turns into a BlackBerry story…)

I’m so glad that we were able to make Layne’s golden birthday so special, because she truly is such an incredible person. I love you, Layne!